Archive for the ‘Google Voice’ tag

You can tell me all about open source and closed systems and every other idea you want to throw at me… but it just plain don’t matter. You bought an Apple product.

And to the vast majority of iPhone consumers who don’t even know what Google Voice is… it don’t mean shit either. They have the cool gadget. THEY DON’T CARE… and as much as we love to yell at ourselves inside this tech bubble, no amount of yelling will make them care. The only time it will is if something like a Perez Hilton, TMZ or Dancing With The Stars app gets bumped.

The people who actually want to do this type of stuff with their iPhone are probably no more than 0.1% of the total number of iPhone users. People are really expecting Apple to allow a competitors software on their device because 0.1% of the population jump up and down? Good luck with that…

I have an iPhone and I love it. It does everything I want it to. There are some features I would like extra but when it comes down to crunch time, the pros outweigh the cons so much it isn’t even a contest anymore.

Basically, if you write an app that even sniffs in the general direction of the core features of the iPhone, you do so at your own peril. To do so then scream bloody murder when you get rejected is naïve at best.

You can start telling me about no clear guidelines and this and that but in the end, you chose to play on the pool table so you have to play by the house rules, no matter how sketchy they are.

Is it right? Probably not, but that’s how Apple rolls.

So, when it comes down to it:

Developers:You’re playing with Apple. They make great products, but they are closed by nature. They own the bar, they have the cues and until they feel like changing, they have the (well, your) balls as well. Lobby them to change but do so from a position of strength. Show them what they are missing out on. There are only so many times one can bang their head on a brick wall before they start loosing blood.

Consumers:
If you bought an Apple product and now expect it to be free and open… um, HELLO, IT’S FREAKING APPLE… the company known for being tighter than a bug’s asshole over the entire history of the company. You bought the hype, sorry.

If you bought one cause it was cool and hip but didn’t think it through so now you resort to using your ‘name’ for grandiose statements and protest gestures… sorry hipster, your ass got bit…